It’s that time of the season again, time to get quizzical, quizzical. Think Olivia Newton John in her leotard, leggings and headband on Eggheads. Actually, on second thoughts, let’s not.

The Annual LUSC quiz is a tradition that goes way back. In the 80s, there used to be inter branch quizzing galore, with many references to quiz teams in pubs far and wide across Yorkshire, mentioned in our branch meeting minutes. Not so many moons ago, I remember going to one at Headingley, where the top teams from LUSC quiz were invited to face the cleverest Leeds Rhinos teams. Our branch fared quite poorly in that one too, but it is the taking part that counts!

Sadly now, there is but one main event and it was hosted in The Eddie Gray Suite, in the (Magnificent New) East Stand last night (Thursday 23rd February 2017). Bizarrely enough, when I normally check in at Elland Road, every individual part comes up on my phone, apart from the Eddie Gray Suite, maybe Google Maps have the hump as well.

So the branch entered 3 teams. The newest entry ( The Grumpy Whites) made up from the wise heads of Dave Rowson, Karen (Abbott) Webb, John Webb and the youngest brain of the night, Garforths very own hot shot, Sean Hunter. The Deputy Yates (Jolly Whites) team of Andy Yates, James Proctor, Callum ( Marseille 2nd biggest city in France) Brook and late arrivee Paul ( Smuff) Smith made their second appearance, and the usual doggedness of Geoff Thrush, Mick Barker and The Secretary and The MPO dared to sit where no one else would – right by the window overlooking the car park! True to form we nearly missed the first question as we were too distracted trying to think of the word for fear of heights. We settled for Vertigo Sufferers as the team name, as none of us could remember acrophobia. It’s a good job that wasn’t one of the questions, as we would have got it wrong! Harrogate Acrophobics saved for next season then, unless of course we get there as early as Deputy Yates did, in which case we will pick the lower seats nearest the food.

The MPO would like to extend thanks to the Leeds United catering service for the fabulous pork pie, peas and mint sauce by the way. Andy (I think) the catering manager said that the pork pies were only put on as an after thought, as their planned offerings were un-named meat and potato and cheese and onion pies. Thank goodness someone had the foresight to source the pork pies. You cannot beat a pork pie, mushy peas, gravy and mint sauce for a pub quiz. Admittedly, never had that combination with a bottle of Valpolicella but it’s Thursday, why not?

Last season Geoff, Mick, The Secretary and The MPO vowed to do some revision to prepare, like we do every season actually. And, like we do every season, we arrived at the quiz still not able to put names to current squad numbers between the 4 of us. Shoddy! Sure enough round 5, squad numbers! And not just this season, but promotion winning seasons too. So, after an excellent first two rounds start, the Harrogate Knights sank further into the mire with every Leeds United question fired at us. I can’t speak for the other two branch teams , but save the question of David Batty’s two shirt numbers, we didn’t do very well. The round was soundly topped off with “what was Harry Kewell’s number?” . We answered 666, correct answers on a postcard please…

The “general sport” round flummoxed us too, our answer to “Who is the England rugby union captain? was an inspired Donald Trump, again, incorrect, but good choice I thought. Luckily enough the combination of The MPO remembering that Beth Jordache buried Trevor under the patio in Brookside and Geoff Thrush recollecting how unfairly Gareth was beaten into second place by Will Young meant that the Harrogate Whites managed a joint 4th spot highest ranking, with the other two in the not too shabby 9th (Grumpy Whites) and 10th (Jolly Whites) places out of a possible 16 ( I’ll check that up and correct as necessary). Had The MPO not over-ruled Geoff over his knowledge of the Metropolitan Line and Mick Barker had insisted more vehemently on his 1980s info, we may have still achieved joint 4th, but at least Mick remembered Richard Naylor put a brace past Yeovil.

Our thanks to the above-mentioned for their attendance and of course to the LUSC for their organisation and Leeds United for their hospitality. Roll on next season, let’s try to start reading up sooner and get those squad numbers in our heads. New branch motto viribus unitis (thank you Dave Rowson for that little nugget) and to finish with Olivia Newton John..

Since Marco Silvestri came to Leeds United, there has only been only been one Love Story that matters. You have to admit it, the camera doesn’t lie, she only has eyes for one person. Since the first time they met, Deputy Yates has been “bumping into” the lovely Sofia far too many times for this to be a casual fling. Either that or Deputy Yates has some serious man marking issues. Hardly!

Luckily enough, the “Managers Curse” that has plagued Brian McDermott, Uwe Rosler and Steve Evans (can’t even remember a picture with Redfearn- must have been his own doing that one), has yet to touch the delicate hands of Sofia.

So here it is in all it’s glory… I think Marco is safe!

Bournemouth in Marco’s shirt, just so she remembers who her Number 1 really is

Blackburn in September over a romantic plastic glass of Carling

Barnsley away smouldering in Andy’s shadow

Huddersfield with a reassuring thumbs up

It wasn’t even an hour into the journey down to Ipswich before The Chairman had come out with some right crackers. I wish I could do service to all of them, sadly, I can’t, so this will have to do.

Peter Skellern sadly passed away last week and I have duly posted a tribute on the branch facebook page under instructions from Charley.  The Chairman stated that he thinks both Peter Skellern and Peter Sarstedt should be made honorary members of Harrogate & District LUSC. Probably Peter Sarstedt more so, given how often Where Do You Go To My Lovely is requested on the coach on the way back from an away game. Given that other societies have taken to adding members who they think would want to belong to their groups, it was decided that this should be discussed at the next branch meeting.

As is the usual in these conversations, The Chairman then decided that other notary figures should also be considered for honorary branch membership, given their specific skill set and any similarities that may or may not resonate with our branch. Napoleon Bonaparte was one suggestion, quickly over-ruled on the grounds that he was French, so Nelson was suggested as a more appropriate choice (not wishing to be short-ist or French-ist of course). It was flagged up that Scandinavians are notorious Leeds fans, so both Hagar The Horrible and Noggin The Nog were also put forward by the Media & Publicity Officer.

Somehow, The Chairman associated all of these conversations with an episode of Basil Brush, where the puppet itself fell off and all you could see the was the two fingers of the puppeteer. I have no idea why the Chairman would associate that image with the branch, but he is The Chairman after all, and what he says goes…

Further investigation into Basil Brush by the MPO has found this little story, which The Chairman has probably never seen before and therefore I have added it, in hope that it gives The Chairman further insight into the character of our potential honorary member.

Please note that the branch does not endorse hate crimes, the selling of lucky heather or pegs and definitely takes exception to the use of hypnotism as a means of inducing favour with the opposite sex.

Noted incitor of hate crime Mr B Brush in his pre Strasbourg Court Of Human Rights days

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-542353/BBC-ban-Basil-Brush-gipsy-sketch-hit-police-probe.html

Lost In Translation, despite being nominated for 4 Academy Awards, was sadly exactly that to the MPO (In fairness, Bill Murray as his Garfield persona would have been made it a better film), and much is the case in point at Leeds United right now.

I don’t mean the Club itself, as frankly the team is going great guns at present and as I said before Excelsior! The dizzy heights of The Premiership beckon. Don’t get me wrong, I am still VERY cross about Sutton, and as far as I am concerned, it will be a monumental stain on the history of Leeds United for the foreseeable future. Every cup draw, whether FA Cup or League Cup, Sutton will be mentioned in the same breath as Histon and Colchester ad infinitum.

What I mean is, that in this age of social media, it has been far too easy for fans and fan groups to get carried away with what they think being a fan is all about. Twenty years ago, the only opportunities fans had to make public comments about our beloved team was via the then Yorkshire Post (and after 3pm the Yorkshire Evening Post) fans page on the Wednesday after the Saturday game. The Leeds United fanzines, like our own “We Are Leeds” were another outlet for fans to voice their opinions in writing.  Old fashioned writing I mean.  By letter, relying on Royal mail of course, and often by the time your letter got to the required destination, things had changed anyway, so sometimes you were unlucky enough to be out of date with your comments.

Enter the age of social media, where you can communicate to the world in seconds in 140 characters. You can post pictures via instagram and snapchat, post youtube videos and live stream via facebook. Even the Luddite led Harrogate branch have begrudgingly had to go into the internet age! Alas, with this great power there needs to be great responsibility, and this is so very sadly lacking.

I have always said that all fans are entitled to their own opinions. We pay hard earned money for the season tickets, gold memberships, away tickets, bus travel on the coach etc. Not to mention those that actually buy programmes and other Leeds United merchandise and of course there is the food and drink that we spend our pennies (pounds more like) at the home games. So, people have the right to say what they want. Within reason of course.

As Sean Connery would say, here endeth the lesson… within reason.

I had quite a bit of feedback from my rant the other month, some people agreed with it, some didn’t. Some people have added us to groups on facebook as well, so when I get a spare few minutes, I have a little perusal and I have seen some of my comments repeated on others posts. What is disturbing of late is the number of comments, whether in jest or not, of fans calling other fans “plastic” and some fans / fans groups generally thinking that they have the right to call themselves better than others.

I believe that this started when a certain person took over our club. As a result of his sad misguided belief of his own self importance, a wedge was driven between us. I remember having a heated discussion with someone who continually sang “Dennis Wise’s Barmy Army” politely referring him back to frequent visits to Stamford Bridge and having to put up with Wise and Le Saux on that touchline. He was a bit miffed when I said I would never sing his name, even if he got us promoted and won the Champions League. However, the munchkin helped us into Division 3. Enough said about that ! Subsequent years under the (un) shrewd guidance of the puppet master and his muppet / puppet, including the takeover by the poorest Arabs on the planet, led to further divides, with fans getting involved and taking sides vociferously. Fast forward to the press heyday of our current owners landing blows with everyone from the FA to the television gods, and every man and his dog has an opinion. It’s like a mad Venn diagram!

Back to the point, no one has the right to say that they are a better Leeds United fan than the next bloke. I certainly don’t agree with anyone speaking on my behalf either, I am very capable of making my views known. Whilst we ( Harrogate branch) are members of the LUSC, anything that the LUSC says publicly is only said with a majority agreement of all members. This does take time given that LUSC members are spread far and wide, and some don’t use social media. It is hard enough to get the Harrogate branch to tell us who they want to vote for as player of the month, let alone any major issue like what they think of new Chairman. So, transpose this on hundreds of thousands of Leeds United fans all over the world, and I find it difficult to believe that any single fan group can wholeheartedly say that they speak for the majority of Leeds United fans, even when blessed with fibre broadband!

The new man Andrea Radrizzani met with some selected fan groups earlier this week, we are being told that the Club would like to engage with the fans more. What I would like to see is that we all have an equal voice about the issues we feel are important to us, and not whoever shouts loudest. We have an opportunity to start a new chapter of the history of Leeds United, so rather than argy bargy, lets get our heads together and bring our collective voices, whilst still maintaining our individual entities and merits, around the table. I am sure there are some good ideas that we can all agree on, which we can realistically take forward. When I say agree on, I don’t want a repeat of the “Who votes for a move to Swillington?” debate in the 2000s where allegedly we all wanted to move out of Elland Road…….

I want us to buy Elland Road back and get the West Stand redeveloped, I would gladly buy a bond to help….. anyone else?

As I write there is still the question of the fate of Garry with two Rs hanging over our heads. Unfortunately this is not the first time that Leeds United fans have come across this phenomenon – der der – der der der. So I thought I would handily summarise at least some of the past events in our history, which I feel (and again I MUST reiterate – my words are my own, read The Disclaimer) have blighted our glorious history. The Imbalance of power that controls the destiny of our beloved Leeds United in summary.

These are a selection of some events which I believe Leeds United have been discriminated against unfairly, and if it were any other club / Chairman / manager / team /players (you get my drift) , the result may well have been different. The list is by no means complete and exhaustive, but I haven’t got enough time to do a  comprehensive one now, nor never really.

The Cup Winners Cup Final in 1973.

Bent as a two bob note referee who never refereed another professional international game in his life. Richard Corbutt (MEP for Yorks and Humber) took a petition to UEFA with thousands of signatures regarding that match. Even the local fans boo-ed the lap of honour in Salonika and some Milan fans are still embarrassed by the sad affair. Even the Daily Telegraph did an article on it ( see link below)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/leeds-united/5159007/Uefa-asked-to-probe-Leeds-Uniteds-1973-Cup-Winners-Cup-defeat-to-AC-Milan.html

The European Final in Paris 1975

Robbed again by dodgy referee and cheating Beckenbauer, who years later admitted that the tackle on Clarke was a blatant foul and we should have had a penalty. In an act of shame, after the ref clearly pointed to the centre spot after giving Lorimer the goal, Beckenbauer “had a word” with the ref about Billy being offside and the rest is history. In an article to the YEP in May 2015, Allan Clarke said that he still hasn’t spoken to any of that Bayern team nor the referee since that game, and hopes he never will. Outstanding! There’s a man who can hold a grudge, the MPO has a long, long way to go!

Playing league title decider two days after the FA Cup final in 1972

48 hours after playing Arsenal at Wembley, we were expected to be fully fit and rested for the league title decider. Nowadays, the Premiership teams are moaning about fixture congestion and wanting a winter break because players are playing too many games. This despite going to the USA and Asia to play in the closed season. Says it all doesn’t it. But lessons have sadly not been learnt and I think the same may well have happened this season too as the Championship play off final is within 48 hours of the FA Cup… lucky that we lost to Sutton then!

The Football Association Fit and Proper Test.

At the end of our 2005/6 season we were in all sorts of a mess with the problems with the court case and Ridsdale spending what he didn’t have, so we were “bailed out” by Bad Papa Smurf in an act of selfless humility. Under Bad Papa Smurfs reign of terror, Shaun Harvey was the chief exec officer and remained so until GFH took over July 2013. He was then appointed by the Football League as the new chief exec whose role it was to address issues with club ownership, governance and compliance with rules. This despite the fact that under his tenure at Bradford City, the club collapsed into administration and almost full liquidation. Whilst he was at Leeds United, in 2007 the club collapsed into administration owing approx £35 million with reported £7 million in taxes due. He told a parliamentary select committee that despite being Chief Exec at Leeds, he had no idea who owned Leeds United. He was also found guilty of harassment using Yorkshire Radio and the Leeds United matchday programme. Something that to this day he has never apologised for. Somehow, the Football League felt that this man was qualified for this job! Hmmm. In March 2014 Carson Yeung ( Birmingham City owner ) was convicted and jailed for 6 years for money laundering. Meanwhile, Owen Oyston (Blackpool owner) served nearly four years after being found guilty of another crime, his son was also found guilty of offensive language and was banned for six weeks from footballing activities. Before anyone does a Donald Trump at me, this is NOT fake news, it is in fact, well, fact. If you don’t believe me you can google it, plus it’s on Wikipedia, so MUST be true. There are others such as the Blackburn, Coventry City and Charlton owners, who aren’t exactly shining lights of propriety either, you can look them up yourselves and make your own minds up, if you think I am being too harsh. Meanwhile, Mr Cellino appears to have some issues with a boat and some cars and was immediately banned by the same Football League who appear to have no problems with any of the above. The initial conviction in an Italian court was appealed and it has now been completely quashed, with Mr Cellino acknowledged as having done nothing wrong. Whatever you think of our Chairman, still not right is it?

The Football League Television Deal

The thing that hardly any of the English Football League Chairman have actually seen , let alone read, that was signed on behalf of them by, you guessed it, Shaun Harvey. Since when do you put your name to something you haven’t read? So Mr Cellino just before Christmas 2015 decides that moving games for the benefit of TV whenever the TV companies dictate it, isn’t really something he signed up for it and would like to see a copy of said contract. For his efforts he gets a rollicking, a lambasting even, by all corners of the media and fans and chairmen alike. Even though, most fans secretly agreed with him. Come December 2016, there is a meeting at Pride Park, where all 72 of the EFL clubs were invited. The meeting was to discuss what the Derby County Chairman, Mel Morris, described as a lack of transparency when it comes to the major dealings with a significant financial impact to the EFL clubs. Cellino was hailed as a madman clutching at straws at the time, it only took a year for the rest of the league to realise what was going on. Their rights signed away by someone who saw two clubs go into administration.

Excessive celebration of a goal.

Pontus got a yellow card for jumping into the crowd after he scored his first goal in Nov 2016. Meanwhile on Sunday, the Hudds Town manager not only leaves his technical area, but runs 50 yards on the pitch to celebrate the goal. The referee and the linesmen do nothing at all, until Garry decides to block him as he is running through our technical area. Me? I would have slyly stuck out a foot to trip him up, in a Roadrunner v Wile E Coyote move, hoping for a classic fall flat on his face. This is because when it boils down to it, I am not a responsible grown up, I am a petty minded child at heart. Sadly, unlike me, Garry with two Rs isn’t, and didn’t, and had to put up with a load of earache until Pep and the rest of the team piled in. Earlier this season Fulham and QPR were fined about £40,000 each for their touchline brawl. We wait with bated breath to see what happens……